At least 64 people killed in Spanish train collision

The death toll from a high-speed train collision south of Madrid on Wednesday has more than doubled to 64, Spanish regional authorities said, warning the figure was still likely to increase, in the second deadly railway accident in the country this year.

"We are speaking of approximately 64 (dead), but this is probably going to grow even more," the leader of the central region of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano Garcia-Page, told AFP at the scene, raising a previous toll of 31.

Rescue workers were scouring the wreckage for more bodies at the crash scene, reports Reuters.

Evacuated passengers streamed along a road near the scene, some splattered with blood or with their wounds bandaged, others wheeling suitcases and being given water by volunteers who said it had been donated from neighbouring towns.

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Hundreds of ambulances, funeral home vans and helicopters were parked next to a train with several carriages sitting on an elevated section of track while twisted metal, broken panels and wreckage could be seen strewn across an embankment beneath the line where at least three carriages had plunged.

Miguel, a passenger travelling with several colleagues in the rear car of one of the trains, described to COPE radio the moment of the accident.

"We heard a massive roar, a truly enormous thud that went on for 10 seconds, as if the train were about to derail. Through the right-hand window, we could see a wrecked train," he said.

A person briefed on the disaster said a train operated by private consortium Iryo stopped near Toledo on orders from infrastructure manager ADIF due to a signal fault.

A train operated by Renfe then struck the stationary train at high speed, causing several carriages of both trains to derail, the person said.

Renfe said in a statement that after a being authorised to continue its journey, its train had crashed into the Iryo train that had remained stationary "for reasons we don't know".

"The Renfe train continued on its way as instructed, and a collision occurred. The exact sequence of events, the traffic conditions and the circumstances of the impact will have to be established by the investigation," Renfe said.

There was no immediate response to a Reuters request for comment from Iryo or Adif.